Rome

Rome, the ancient capital of Christendom, is depicted in the novel as a city in ruins, abandoned by the papacy and prey to local warlords, serving as a central symbol of the Church's corruption and the political chaos of the early 14th century.

The Abandoned City

By the early years of the 14th century, Pope Clement V had moved the apostolic seat to Avignon, leaving Rome prey to the ambitions of local overlords. The holy city of Christianity had been transformed into a circus, or into a brothel, riven by the struggles among its leaders. Though called a republic, it was not one, and it was assailed by armed bands, subjected to violence and looting. Ecclesiastics, eluding secular jurisdiction, commanded groups of malefactors and robed, sword in hand, transgressing and organizing evil commerce. This state of decay made Rome a symbol of the Church's spiritual and temporal failure, and a justification for the Emperor Louis the Bavarian's ambition to restore the dignity of the Holy Roman Empire by claiming the imperial crown there.

The Imperial Claim

In 1314, five German princes in Frankfurt elected Louis the Bavarian supreme ruler of the empire, while on the same day, the Count Palatine of the Rhine and the Archbishop of Cologne elected Frederick of Austria to the same high rank. This created a situation of two emperors for a single throne and a single pope for two, fomenting great disorder. Louis's eventual descent into Italy and his coronation in Milan were steps toward his goal of being crowned in Rome, a goal that Adso of Melk's father, fighting in Louis's train, hoped to witness. The city's vulnerability and its status as the rightful seat of imperial power made it the ultimate prize in the conflict between the Pope and the Emperor.

A Symbol of Lost Glory

The library of the abbey, which William of Baskerville describes as the only light that Christianity can oppose to the great libraries of the infidels, is implicitly contrasted with Rome's lost glory. The abbey's collection of six thousand codices is presented as a bastion of learning, while Rome, the former center of the world, has become a place of ruin and strife. The abbot's lament about the world teetering on the brink of the abyss and the need to preserve the treasure of wisdom is a direct response to the decay symbolized by Rome's fall from grace. The city's fate serves as a warning of what happens when spiritual and temporal power are corrupted, a theme that resonates throughout the novel's exploration of heresy, knowledge, and authority.